Protestation & Piggybacking: Strategic Participation in an ESL Book Group

ABSTRACT Research on making connections to texts has largely explored how making text connections supports reading comprehension. However, less attention has been paid to how readers make text connections through talk and in interaction during text-based discussions. In this study, I explore how text connections were co-constructed between students and their teacher in an English as a Second Language book group. Specifically, I look at the content of the connections one focal student made to the text, and how she used language to share these connections during book group meetings. Drawing on positioning theory and microethnographic discourse analysis, findings illuminate the different affordances and constraints of two participation strategies this student used to make text connections: protestation and piggybacking. This study suggests implications for future work on the complex and creative ways young, linguistically diverse readers participate in literacy discussions.